CBS Reporter's Notebook: How the Other Half Lives

One of the Main Stream Media (MSM) journalists from CBS News decided to swap campaigns. Here is how it looked to Dean Reynolds, late of the Obama campaign, as he discovered things he never recognized before he put the two presidential candidates on a comparison sheet.

Now a thought that the national press corps should already be thinking: Obama has no respect for you. You're easy; no, to be more accurate, you're cheap. You are a floozie who went down on sight. You demanded nothing for your love, you prostituted yourself for ego satisfaction and the need to "prove" your racial un-bias.

You think you are going to get rich because your book giving "the insider's story" of the first black elected president of the United States will be so much better than the hundreds of others that will all release along with yours the day after the election. Boys and girls, you are deluded.

If he is elected, the contempt shown to you now will be nothing compared to what will be shown after the election.

You already know Obama will sign-up prosecutors and sheriffs to enforce "the party line" because that's what he did in Missouri.

You already know Obama will pull the plug on your Internet operations because that is what he did to anti-Obama bloggers at BlogSpot.com.

You already know Obama will lie to you at the drop of a hat, because that is what he did in his autobiography, and what he has done throughout his campaign.

And if you dare say a word about it, he will call out his most vicious supporters in Congress - Barney Frank comes to mind - and accuse you of being racist, because you have already put yourself into the position of doing Obama's every bidding. No longer doing his bidding will be positioned as allowing your "repressed racism" come bubbling to the top.

If you think I'm wrong on that one, look at how the Gay Revisionists scream "homophobe" at anyone who dares oppose the Gay Agenda. So in Barney Frank you have both the Gay Revisionist mindset, and the black racist mindset.

Oppose Obama, and you're cooked.

Send this to your friends, emails lists, and blogs. The article's hyperlink is:

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Kenneth
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Reporter's Notebook: Seeing How The Other Half Lives

By Dean Reynolds
Copyright 2008 - Used with Permission


(NASHVILLE, TENN.) - After most of the previous 12 months covering Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency, it was interesting, instructive and, well, relaxing to follow John McCain for the last few days. The differences between the two are striking.

Obama is the big time orator, McCain is the guy who struggles with a teleprompter or even note cards strategically placed nearby. Obama's crowds are larger, more enthusiastic. McCain's events are smaller, but to my eye, better choreographed. And now with the addition of Sarah Palin to some of his events, McCain can boast of crowds that match Obama's in energy.

There is an urgency to the McCain campaign now that I don't think was there before. Due to the fact that he is running second, no doubt, but it may also be because McCain has a finishing kick. Whatever the case, he is sharper on the stump than he was before. (Though I would suspect a candidate running behind would want to schedule two or three appearances per day, instead of the one McCain usually does.)

It is true that McCain enjoys taking questions from the audience in town hall-style settings. That doesn't mean he is the master of that kind of forum, it just means he's good at it. He likes to converse with voters. Obama does it well too, but seldom achieves that intangible bond with the people that all politicians crave -- or fake.

Behind the scenes, where the public is not allowed, there are other differences.

Obama's campaign schedule is fuller, more hectic and seemingly improvisational. The Obama aides who deal with the national reporters on the campaign plane are often overwhelmed, overworked and un-informed about where, when, why or how the candidate is moving about. Baggage calls are preposterously early with the explanation that it's all for security reasons.

If so, I would love to have someone from Obama's campaign explain why the entire press corps, the Secret Service, and the local police idled for two hours in a Miami hotel parking lot recently because there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. It was not an isolated case.

The national headquarters in Chicago airily dismisses complaints from journalists wondering why a schedule cannot be printed up or at least e-mailed in time to make coverage plans. Nor is there much sympathy for those of us who report for a newscast that airs in the early evening hours.

Our shows place a premium on live reporting from the scene of campaign events. But this campaign can often be found in the air and flying around at the time the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric is broadcast.

I suspect there is a feeling within the Obama campaign that the broadcast networks are less influential in the age of the internet and thus needn't be accomodated as in the days of yore. Even if it's true, they are only hurting themselves by dissing audiences that run in the tens of millions every night.

The McCain folks are more helpful and generally friendly. The schedules are printed on actual books you can hold in your hand, read, and then plan accordingly. The press aides are more knowledgeable and useful to us in the news media. The events are designed with a better eye, and for the simple needs of the press corps.

When he is available, John McCain is friendly and loquacious. Obama holds news conferences, but seldom banters with the reporters who've been following him for thousands of miles around the country.

Go figure.

The McCain campaign plane is better than Obama's, which is cramped, uncomfortable and smells terrible most of the time. Somehow the McCain folks manage to keep their charter clean, even where the press is seated.

The other day in Albuquerque, N.M., the reporters were given almost no time to file their reports after McCain spoke. It was an important, aggressive speech, lambasting Obama's past associations. When we asked for more time to write up his remarks and prepare our reports, the campaign readily agreed to it. They understood.

Similar requests are often denied or ignored by the Obama campaign aides, apparently terrified that the candidate may have to wait 20 minutes to allow reporters to chronicle what he's just said. It's made all the more maddening when we are rushed to our buses only to sit and wait for 30 minutes or more because nobody seems to know when Obama is actually on the move.

Maybe none of this means much. Maybe a front-running campaign like Obama's that is focused solely on victory doesn't have the time to do the mundane things like print up schedules or attend to the needs of reporters.

But in politics, everything that goes around comes around.
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AP asks if Sarah Palin is too attractive to be VP

When it comes to trying to find any excuse to diss Sarah Palin, the Main Stream Media (MSM) is an endless sewer. Not a day goes by without another slam for the governor.

You realize, of course, this is all based on the financial incentives of writing books about Barack Obama, a la Gwen Ifill. I've explained to my readers and radio program's listeners that what is driving a very large portion of the MSM cheer-leading - now completely undisguised, and completely unapologetic - is the lust journalists have to hit it big with a top-selling book about "the insider's story" of Obama's election to the White House.

Of course, he's got to be elected if you are going to hit it big, so that is why they are going out of their way to do everything they can to get him elected.

Or to put is in a more earthy environment, the MSM is completely prostituted to Obama.

Now comes the need to destroy not only the thorn in Obama's flesh, but the one in Hillary Clinton's as well. So we get the sexual question, "Is Sarah Palin too attractive to be the VP?"

How warped is that? Do you think we'll ever see the MSM look at the Democrat nominee and say, "Gee, is Barack Obama too hot to be Pres?"

The article notes that some would call that what is being done to "Sarah-cuda" is sexism. I say, "Well, yeah!! What else do you call it when one standard is applied to a candidate that is not applied to the other dealing with the difference based on gender?"

Here's the AP story for your reading pleasure. Pass it on to your friends, email lists, and blogs. The direct hyperlink to this article is:

http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/10/ap-asks-if-sarah-palin-is-too.html

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Kenneth

++++++

By Ross Colvin - Analysis
Copyright 2008 Associated Press - Used with Permission

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a former beauty queen running to be the United States' next vice president, challenges the old saying, "Washington is Hollywood for ugly people."

The Republican's looks have grabbed arguably even more attention than her conservative political views. When he met her, Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, called Palin gorgeous, and readers of the men's magazine Maxim voted her one of the planet's sexiest politicians.

Good-looking, cute, even "hot" -- these are just some adjectives used to describe Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate, even as some commentators and party insiders question her competence to serve as president-in-waiting and others call the obsession with her appearance sexism.

McCain surprised many by picking Palin, a self-described moose-hunting "hockey mom" largely unknown on the national political scene, as his No. 2 in late August, but she proved hugely popular in the first few weeks following her nomination and lifted the Republican campaign out of the doldrums.

"She indeed brought a fresh face into the Republican campaign and stole a lot of Barack Obama's freshness for a critical couple of weeks. I'm sure it has not hurt her that that fresh face is a pretty face," said pollster John Zogby.

The good looks of Obama, McCain's Democratic rival for the presidency, have also garnered some media attention, but it has paled in comparison to the attention given Palin's.

The skewed coverage has led to charges of sexism from Palin supporters and others who say it belittles her candidacy. It has also put the spotlight on this question: How much do looks help win elections?

"Obviously Jack Kennedy trumped on the way he looked," Zogby said. "On the other hand Lyndon Johnson, a gangly Texan, ran against a strikingly handsome Barry Goldwater (and won). Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton, the looks certainly worked for them ... but looks alone are not going to carry the day for you."

'HOTTEST' GOVERNOR, COLDEST STATE

Palin's appearance has made for some tricky campaigning.

McCain's campaign released an attack ad in September accusing the Democrats of sexism after Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, joked that one key difference between himself and Palin was that she was good-looking.

Days earlier, however, delegates from Palin's home state of Alaska turned up at the Republican convention proudly sporting badges announcing that they had the "hottest" governor from the coldest state.

Palin referred to the attention her looks garner in an interview with Vogue magazine, before her nomination.

"I wish they'd stick with the issues instead of discussing my black go-go boots. A reporter once asked me about it ... and I assured him I was trying to be as frumpy as I could by wearing my hair on top of my head and these schoolmarm glasses," she said.

So, is the attention to her wardrobe and physical appearance legitimate?

"I think the discussion of her looks is a measure of the sexism left in our society, that instead of focusing on her opinions there is so much discussion (of her looks). If you go online and look at the number of hits on her when she was a beauty queen, they are pretty dramatic," said Professor Barbara Risman, head of sociology at University of Illinois at Chicago.

SEX CARD

A search by Reuters found that a 44-second video of Sarah Palin in a swimsuit in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant had been viewed more than 700,000 times on the YouTube website since being posted on September 26.

San Francisco Chronicle editorial writer Caille Millner, who has accused the McCain campaign of tokenism in its nomination of Palin, contends that the talk of Palin's appearance is appropriate.

"It is perfectly fair to bring this up -- did McCain bring her on the ticket because she is good-looking and has sex appeal and this is something his campaign lacked?" she said.

In any case, the comments on Palin's appearance are nothing new.

"Since women started running in large numbers statewide or for the Senate, which was in 1992, studies show that all print media spent much more time talking about what a woman looked like and what she wore than they did about their male counterparts," said Professor Karen O'Connor, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University in Washington.

O'Connor and some other commentators believe Palin is acutely aware of her attractiveness and plays up to it.

"There is the 'babe factor.' It's almost as if she is cultivating that," O'Connor said.

But University of Illinois at Chicago's Risman says that could backfire if true.

"In professional settings women who exaggerate femininity are not taken as seriously because ultra-femininity and power and prestige are seen as opposites in our culture."

(Editing by Patricia Zengerle)
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London's Daily Telegraph: 1929 all over again?

This is one of those articles you read to add depth and perspective to your understanding that history does repeat itself, and for whatever reasons, humanity never seems to learn.

Share this article's direct link with your friends, email lists, and blogs:

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Kenneth
+++++++




Remember 1929 – what seemed to be the end was only the beginning

The dismemberment of Dick Fuld, Lehman Brothers’ former chief executive, before a Congressional committee on Monday was a compelling, albeit brutal, event.


By Jeff Randall
Last Updated: 10:21PM BST 07 Oct 2008
Copyright 2008 The Daily Telegraph - Used with Permission

His televised humiliation was orchestrated by a veteran Democrat, Henry Waxman, whose simple question about Fuld’s alleged $480m of earnings – Is that fair? – hit the banker like a haymaker, rendering him speechless.

As the cameras focused on Fuld’s haunted stare, there was a sense of action replay. Hadn’t we seen this freak show, or at least something remarkably like it, long before Lehman went under – a display of furious inquisitors wiping the floor with Wall Street’s loftiest reputations?

Yes, history was repeating itself: “As the ghosts of numerous tyrants, from Julius Caesar to Benito Mussolini will testify, people are very hard on those who, having had power, lose it or are destroyed. Then anger at past arrogance is joined with contempt for present weakness.

“The victim or his corpse is made to suffer all available indignities. Such was the fate of the bankers. They were fair game for Congressional committees, courts, the press and comedians.”

These are the observations of economist J K Galbraith in The Great Crash, 1929. First published in 1954, his analysis of the greed and self-delusion that led to the unravelling of America’s stock market and the subsequent Depression is undimmed by time.

Replace 1929 with 2008 and the story, I’m afraid, is eerily familiar: a speculative orgy, crescendo, climax and crash. As this plays out, important people – business and political leaders – rely on “the power of incantation” to keep the rest of us calm. Their efforts are doomed to fail.

“Cause and effect run from the economy to the stock market, never the reverse. In 1929, the economy was headed for trouble,” wrote Galbraith.

As now, too few understood this. Many who foresaw disaster kept quiet. There was a conspiracy of silence. “The foolish thus [had] the field to themselves.”

In the 1920s, says Galbraith, America’s economy had been weakened by “bad distribution of income... bad corporate structure... bad banking structure... dubious state of the foreign balance... and poor state of economic intelligence”. Who can say with certainty that today it is different? Who now wants to defend the promoters of a one-way bet on property? Any takers?

For those hoping that the stock market’s recent “correction” will be followed by a swift recovery, Galbraith puts a wealth warning on suckers’ rallies. “The singular feature of the great crash of 1929 was that the worst continued to worsen. What looked one day like the end proved on the next day to have been only the beginning. Nothing could have been more ingeniously designed to maximise the suffering.”

It’s worth remembering that a full recovery in the stock market took more than 20 years. During that time, in July 1932 the Dow Jones index was 89pc below its top. In Britain, the reaction was less severe: the market merely halved.

Amid the carnage, there were buy-backs of stock by investment trusts, desperate to shore up their share prices. This resulted in a massive outflow of cash, just when liquidity was at its most precious. “They bought their own worthless stock,” wrote Galbraith. “Men have been swindled by other men on many occasions. The autumn of 1929 was, perhaps, the first occasion when men succeeded on a large scale in swindling themselves.”

Sadly, it was not the last. In 2006, Royal Bank of Scotland spent £1bn buying 54.3m of its own shares at an average price of £18.37. As late as December that year, it paid £141m for 7.1m shares (average price: £19.79). Yesterday, RBS shares fell by 39pc to just 90p. What cost £1bn is priced at £49m today.

RBS was not alone. Even after the credit crunch hit the headlines in September last year, when Northern Rock crumbled, Halifax-Bank of Scotland was busy buying its own shares at fancy prices. In 2006-07, HBOS spent £1.5bn (average share price: £10.01). Yesterday, it joined the infamous “Ninety Per Cent Club” of losers, after the bank’s shares dropped 37pc to 94p.

What drove HBOS to carry on with its madcap scheme? Galbraith’s musing on the short journey from hubris to nemesis helps provide an answer: “If one has been a financial genius, faith in one’s genius does not dissolve at once... The cash went out and the stock came in, and prices were not perceptibly affected or not for long. What six months before had been a brilliant financial manoeuvre was now a form of fiscal self-immolation.”

That was certainly true for Lehman’s Dick Fuld. In the end, he was sucking up his own exhaust. He took his last year-end bonus, about $40m, entirely in shares. They went down the drain with the rest of his bank. Before this mayhem subsides, much treasure and many more egos will follow. The comedians await.
-30-

Jim Cramer/Mad Money: Sell! Now!

-30-

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: The financial nightmare

Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report turned my on to Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of London's The Daily Telegraph. He is their global financial columnist, and without a doubt, one of the world's most respected.

"Thank you, Mr. Drudge! This guy is must-reading."

OK, so the bottom line is that you got played for a fool if you bought into the $1-trillion bailout bill Congress passed. You probably didn't notice that the day it passed, the Fed shoveled $630-billion out the door, and is still pumping out hundreds of billions more even with its passage.

The so-called "death spiral" we are seeing, according to Mr. Evans-Pritchard, so bad that he says the world is within days of a complete financial meltdown. It's reasonable to ask why the bailout bill - heralded as the answer to the question of how to stop this disaster in its tracks, is doing nothing of the sort. Re-read the paragraph above; the Fed is throwing hundreds - and hundreds - of billions of dollars at this, and the move they throw, the more this monster wants to eat.

Why? Because buying up the so-called "toxic assets " of the US financial system is not, and never was, the answer. All that bit of insanity did was feed the money-lust of the world's financial institutions for more.

The reason they lust for more is because the real answer to the world's problem is recapitalizing the world financial system. In short, the so-called "Masters of the Universe" stole the world blind, and pocketed the money into their own accounts.

What we really have is a 21st Century Bonnie & Clyde experience; the difference is that our generation's Bonnies and Clydes use computers instead of guns to steal from the world's depositors, and they use corporate jets and a completely corrupt US government to get-away from the law instead of a straight-six Ford.

You have to recapitalize the world's banks because these modern-day bank robbers drained them dry.

There are some lessons here:

1) You are not rich, and way more than likely, you never will be rich - not on the level I use the word. When the CEO of Washington Mutual - WaMu for its officially shortened name - can walk out the door with $19-million in compensation for 3 weeks work, that type of legalize theft is the level I'm talking about as "rich." I don't know who you are that is reading this, but I won't lose any money betting you are not playing in that league.

What that all means then is that you are the one who is being stolen from, and not the one doing the stealing.

2) The next time some idiot comes up to you screaming that taking that type of compensation away from the truly rich constitutes "class warfare," tell the idiot he or she is correct. But not for the reasons the idiot screams.

This class warfare is already being waged on you by the truly rich. They spoils of their class warfare on you is that you are being drained dry by the truly rich.

In short, the class war is already begun; are you going to defend yourself from their war on your life's earnings? Then you better start telling the idiots to get out of your face so you can see clearly as you take your shots at the truly rich to get back what they stole from you.

Those two ideas will do for tonight. I have to be up early tomorrow to get ready for Sarah-cuda's visit to Pensacola.

Here is the article by Mr. Evans-Pritchard to end your night.

Send this article to to your friends, email lists, and blogs, by sending or posting this link to this article:

http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/10/ambrose-evans-pritchard-of-londons.html

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Kenneth
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Germany takes hot seat as Europe falls into the abyss

We face extreme danger. Unless there is immediate intervention on every front by all the major powers acting in concert, we risk a disintegration of global finance within days. Nobody will be spared, unless they own gold bars.


By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 8:37PM BST 06 Oct 2008


Investors will learn today whether the Paulson bail-out - fattened to $850bn (£480bn) by Congress - can begin to halt the death spiral in the credit system. So far, the response looks terrible.

Germany is now in the hot seat. The collapse of a rescue deal for Hypo Real Estate on Saturday threatens a €400bn (£311bn) bankruptcy that nearly matches the Lehman Brothers debacle for sheer scale.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has been forced to pull her head out of the sand, guaranteeing all German savings, a day after she rebuked Ireland for doing much the same thing. Reality intrudes.

During the past week, we have tipped over the edge, into the middle of the abyss. Systemic collapse is in full train. The Netherlands has just rushed through a second, more sweeping nationalisation of Fortis. Ireland and Greece have had to rescue all their banks. Iceland is facing an Argentine denouement.

The US commercial paper market is closed. It shrank $95bn last week, and has lost $208bn in three weeks. The interbank lending market has seized up. There are almost no bids. It is a ghost market. Healthy companies cannot roll over debt. Some will have to sack staff today to stave off default.

As the unflappable Warren Buffett puts it, the credit freeze is “sucking blood” out of the economy. “In my adult lifetime, I don’t think I’ve ever seen people as fearful,” he said.

We are fast approaching the point of no return. The only way out of this calamitous descent is “shock and awe” on a global scale, and even that may not be enough.

Drastic rate cuts would be a good start. Central bankers still paralysed by a misplaced fear of inflation – whether in Europe, Britain, or the US – have become a public menace and should be held to severe account by our democracies. The imminent and massive danger is now self-feeding debt deflation.

The lesson of the 1930s is that any country trying to reflate in isolation will be punished. The crisis will ricochet from one economy to another until every one is crippled. We are seeing it play again in this drama as our leaders fail to rise above their narrow, parochial agendas.

The European Central Bank – which raised rates into the teeth of the crisis in July – has played a shockingly destructive role in this enveloping slump. Its growth predictions this year have been, and still are, delusional. Neglecting its global role, it has vastly complicated the fire-fighting efforts of Washington.

It could have offered “cover” to the US Federal Reserve this spring when Ben Bernanke was forced by events to slash rates to 2pc. It could at least have signalled an end to monetary tightening. That is how an ally ought to behave.

Instead, it stuck maniacally to its Gothic script, with equally unhappy consequences for both sides of the Atlantic, as well as for China, Japan, and India. The euro rocketed yet further, which it turn set off an oil shock as crude metamorphosed into an anti-dollar with leverage.

The ECB policy was self-defeating, even on its own terms. It merely drove headline inflation even higher, while deeper forces of underlying debt deflation pulled the real economies of Germany, Italy, France, and Spain into a recessionary vortex.

Far from offering reassurance, the weekend mini-summit of EU leaders served only to highlight that nobody is in charge of this runaway train. There is still no lender of last resort in euroland. The £12bn stimulus package is risible.

Angela Merkel has revealed her deep limitations. It was she who vetoed French efforts to launch a pan-EU rescue package, suspecting that any lifeboat fund would prove to be Trojan Horse – a way of co-opting German taxpayers into colossal transfers of wealth to Latin Europe.

In that she is right, but it is too late now for dysfunctional EU political games. By demanding that those who caused the damage should pay for it, she crossed the line into caricature, or worse.

Her comments echo word for word the “we’re alright Jack” attitudes of Euro-pols during the first US banking crises in 1930-1931, until the storm hit Europe and the entire cast was swept away by furious electorates, or simply shot. Thankfully, this EU stupidity is at last drawing serious criticism.

“We have to make sure Europe takes its responsibilities, like the US: action must be taken quickly and in a concerted manner,” said IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

As for the US itself, it has not yet exhausted its policy arsenal. It can escalate further up the nuclear ladder. The Fed can cut interest rates from 2pc to zero. If that fails, it can let rip with the mass purchase of US debt.

“The US government has a technology, called a printing press,” said Fed chief Ben Bernanke in November 2002. (His helicopter speech).

In extremis, the Treasury/Fed can swoop into any market to shore up asset prices. They can buy Florida property. They can even buy SUV guzzlers from the car lots in Detroit, and mangle them in scrap yards. As Bernanke put it, the Fed can “expand the menu of assets that it buys.”

There is a devilish catch to this ploy, of course. It assumes that foreign creditors will tolerate such action.

Japan entered its Lost Decade as the world’s top creditor, with a vast pool of household savings to cushion the slump. America starts its purge with net external liabilities of $3 trillion, and a savings rate near zero. Foreigners own over half the US Treasury debt, and two thirds of all Fannie, Freddie, and other US agency bonds.

But the risk of a dollar collapse is one for the distant future. Right now the world faces the opposite problem. There is a wild scramble for dollars as a $10 trillion pyramid of global lending based on dollar balance sheets “delevers” with a vengeance.

This is a “short squeeze” on those who have used the dollar for a vast global carry trade. International banks are facing margin calls on their dollar leverage. It is why the Fed is having to provide $1.25 trillion in dollar liquidity for the entire global system, according to estimates by Brad Setser from the Center for Geoeconomic Studies.

The crisis engulfing Europe, Asia and emerging markets, makes life easier for Washington. The United States is becoming a safe-haven again.

The Fed can now hope to pursue monetary stimulus “a l’outrance” without being slapped down by the currency, debt, and commodity markets. Take comfort where you can.
-30-

William Kristol/NYT: Palin and "The Wright Stuff"

Well, it was just a matter of time until the New York Times - where I got razzed on the national desk as their "token Pentecostal" - would publish something worth groveling to get permission to reprint. In case you wonder why I don't run ads, it's because a non-commercial environment reprint is free, but a reprint in a commercial environment is not.

Now you know the secret for getting reprint permissions anyone can afford!

Today, the NY Times decided to do their own token equal attention op-ed space to William Kristol of the Weekly Standard who crosses over into the Times columns once a week. He interviewed Gov. "Sarah-cuda" Palin.

It made the Drudge Report in short order. It took Reading Between the Lines a little longer, but here it is, surrounded by lot's of great stuff you can link and send out to your email list, or blog.

The link for this specific article is:

http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/10/well-it-was-just-matter-of-time-until.html

Link! Link! Link!

Kenneth
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The Wright Stuff

October 6, 2008
By WILLIAM KRISTOL
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company - Used with Permission

I spoke on the phone Sunday with Sarah Palin, who was in Long Beach, Calif., preparing to take off on her next campaign trip. It was the first time I’d talked with her since I met her in far more relaxed circumstances in Alaska over a year ago. But even though she’s presumably now under some strain and stress, she seemed, as far as I could tell, confident and upbeat.

In terms of substance, some of what she had to say was unsurprising: She doesn’t have a very high opinion of the mainstream media, and she believes an Obama administration would kill jobs by raising taxes. But she said a couple of things that were, I thought, either personally touching or politically provocative.

At one point, noting that Palin had remarked ruefully almost a week ago that her son Track had been, since his recent deployment to Iraq, in touch with his girlfriend but not his mother, I asked whether she had subsequently heard from him.

Palin told me she had. “He called the day of the debate, and it was so wonderful because it was the first call since they were deployed over there, and it was like a burden lifted even when I heard his voice.” Palin said that she told him that she had a debate that night. “And he says, ‘Yeah, I heard, Mom,’ and he says, ‘Have you been studying?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I have,’ and he goes, ‘O.K., well I’ll be praying.’ I’m like — total role reversal here, that’s what I’ve been telling him for 19 years.”

That was Palin the hockey mom — or rather the military mom.

As for the campaign, Palin made clear — without being willing to flat out say so — that she regretted allowing herself to be overly handled and constrained after the Republican convention. She described the debate on Thursday night as “liberating,” and she emphasized how much she now looked forward to being out there, “getting to speak directly to the folks.”

Since she seemed to have enjoyed the debate, I asked her whether she’d like to take this opportunity to challenge Joe Biden to another one.

There was a pause, and I thought I heard some staff murmuring in the background (we were on speaker phones). She passed on the notion of a challenge. But she did say she was more than willing to accept an invitation to debate with Biden again, and even expressed a preference for a town hall meeting-type format.

Since their debate drew more than 70 million television viewers — some 20 million more than watched John McCain and Barack Obama the week before — I trust that various civic associations, universities and media organizations will have invitations in the mail to Biden and Palin pronto.

And, really, shouldn’t the public get the benefit of another Biden-Palin debate, or even two? If there’s difficulty finding a moderator, I’ll be glad to volunteer.

Palin also made clear that she was eager for the McCain-Palin campaign to be more aggressive in helping the American people understand “who the real Barack Obama is.” Part of who Obama is, she said, has to do with his past associations, such as with the former bomber Bill Ayers. Palin had raised the topic of Ayers Saturday on the campaign trail, and she maintained to me that Obama, who’s minimized his relationship with Ayers, “hasn’t been wholly truthful” about this.

I pointed out that Obama surely had a closer connection to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright than to Ayers — and so, I asked, if Ayers is a legitimate issue, what about Reverend Wright?

She didn’t hesitate: “To tell you the truth, Bill, I don’t know why that association isn’t discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country, and to have sat in the pews for 20 years and listened to that — with, I don’t know, a sense of condoning it, I guess, because he didn’t get up and leave — to me, that does say something about character. But, you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up.”

I guess so. And I guess we’ll soon know McCain’s call on whether he wants to bring Wright up — perhaps at his debate with Obama Tuesday night.

I asked at the end of our conversation whether Palin, fresh off her own debate, had any advice for McCain. “I’m going to tell him the same thing he told me. I talked to him just a few minutes before I walked out there on stage. And he just said: ‘Have fun. Be yourself, and have fun.’ And Senator McCain can do the same.” She paused, and I was about to thank her for the interview, but she had one more thing to say. “Only maybe I’d add just a couple more words, and that would be: ‘Take the gloves off.’ ”

And maybe I’d add, Hockey Mom knows best.
-30-

The Register: "Sudden outbreak of democracy"

Here is an interesting take on the way America reacted to the bailout plan, as noted by a member of Great Britain's The Register, whose slogan is "Biting the hand that feeds IT." (I-T, as in Information Technology).

Kenneth

++++++

By Andrew Orlowski • Get more from this author
Posted in Government, 3rd October 2008 18:47 GMT

Copyright 2008 The Register - Used with permission

Something very spooky happened in the United States last week. The chances are you noticed it too, many days before it was reported.

Tuesday found me in New York, on my first stateside visit in a couple of years. The details of the Bailout plan had just been revealed and the slow burn of outrage was apparent everywhere.

Admittedly, this was New York.

(Long-time readers will know I was the San Francisco correspondent for El Reg for six years and was frequently asked by Europeans: "What do Americans think of ... x?" To which the only honest answer is, "I can't tell you what Americans think, but here in San Francisco ...")

The outrage isn't the spooky part. The really odd thing is that if you had to rely on the mainstream US newspapers and TV channels - and nothing else - you'd wouldn't know something remarkable was happening. Which is that the Treasury Secretary's Bailout Plan had united parts of America who spend most of their energy hitting each other over the head, in common opposition to the proposal.

It was the moment that politicians dread the most. This was not merely an outbreak of popular discontent, but a phenomenon which breaks down those convenient labels the political marketing people like to use, to shield their masters from people's true desires and intentions.

Not just coarse labels like "Left" and "Right" - but the really dumb, patronizing demographic ones like "Soccer Mom" and the nadir of modern politics, those found in Mark Penn's "Microtrends." Niche marketers will have to start from scratch.

Conservatives, libertarians, and lefties all raised objections to the Bailout for very sound reasons of their own.

The idea that the state should bail out feckless private enterprises offended both conservatives and libertarians, who take moral responsibility seriously.

The left wanted their traditional adversaries put in jail, not given a gift of new lease of life with the public's money.

People discovered that to "Change Congress," you simply need a ballot box - or the threat of one.

All this was reflected on political sites, forums and blogs - but not a hint of this sentiment was expressed by the professional media.

So when Congress rejected the Bill on Monday, America's punditocracy expressed its shock. It also reported that the markets were "astonished" - the markets being presumed to have a better grasp of what American citizens want than American citizens themselves.

All week, the media had refrained from comment that might embarrass the political class. In fact, the first professional column I read which was reflected the true feelings of many US citizens around me was written from 3,500 miles away and published in London's Sunday Times.

(Editor's Note: Yeah, I'm going to find the Times article and get it posted - Kenneth.)

-30-

Carol Platt Liebau: "Do You Know the Real Obama?"

I just got this article by Carol Platt Liebau published on the TownHall.com site. Here is the unedited version for you to pass on to your friends, email lists, and blogs.

For this specific article, use the link: http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/10/from-townhallcom-carol-platt-liebau.html

For all the great articles, audio clips, and video captures on Reading Between the Lines edited by Kenneth E. Lamb, use this hyperlink: http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/

Link! Link! Link!


Kenneth
+++++++++++



Do You Know the Real Barack Obama?

By Carol Platt Liebau
Used with Permission


As the 2008 presidential campaign hurtles into its final days, John McCain confronts a choice: He can either start telling the public about the real Barack Obama, or he can lose.

For much of his career, McCain has been a media darling. He could count on the press to carry his water as long as he was a “maverick” Republican, driving more conservative members of his party crazy.

But as he surely knows by now, when it comes to Barack Obama and the press, all bets are off.

In covering Obama, the press has adopted a “don’t ask/don’t tell” policy designed to boost the least-vetted, least-known candidate ever to seek the presidency. It isn’t by accident that the media has denied all less-than-glowing stories about Obama the kind of consistent, sustained coverage that allows them to penetrate public consciousness.

If McCain is going to have a chance at winning, he must make sure that the public becomes thoroughly acquainted with the real Barack Obama – the most radical presidential nominee ever. And because the press evidently intends to abdicate its responsibility to acquaint voters with the less-popular parts of Obama’s record, he’ll have to rely on paid advertising to do it.

For starters, McCain should consider running a series of “Did You Know” ads about Barack Obama. He should ask voters, “Did you know that:

Barack Obama has multiple ties to those responsible for the present economic crisis?:

Franklin Raines, the immediate past CEO of Fannie Mae – who has collected a $90 million golden parachute while driving Fannie into the ground – has advised Obama on housing issues.

Jim Johnson, yet another former Fannie Mae CEO, resigned from Obama’s vice presidential search team when it was revealed he had received a sweetheart home mortgage deal.

Despite serving in the Senate for only four years, Obama himself has been the second-largest recipient of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac largesse in the entire Congress, ahead even of former presidential candidate John Kerry, who’s spent two decades in the Senate?

Obama’s long-time political ally, radical group ACORN, played a key role in pressuring banks to offer loans to those who were unlikely to be able to pay them back. ACORN has taken credit for pressuring banks to accept undocumented income as a basis for offering loans, for offering loans without using credit scores, and for making 100% financed loans available to low-income people.

There is more, of course. Do voters know:

That, in apparent defiance of federal election law, the Obama campaign refuses to identify individual donors who have provided almost half the funds for his campaign, including obvious fakes like “Mr. Good Will” and “Mr. Doodad Pro”? And that 11,500 donations to his campaign – totaling almost $34 million – may have come from overseas? Or that two Palestinians living in a Hamas-controlled refugee camp spent $31,300 in Obama’s online store? Who are all these people, and why won’t the Obama campaign obey the law and identify them?

That Jeremiah Wright wasn’t Obama’s first radical mentor? As a young man in Hawaii, Obama had a quasi-filial relationship with radical Frank Marshall Davis – an avowed member of the Communist Party of the USA. In fact, in his memoirs, Obama concedes that he attended “socialist conferences” and encountered Marxist literature. (Now imagine the outcry if a Republican presidential candidate had such ties to a Nazi).

That the People's Weekly World – the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the USA – has rhapsodized about Obama’s presidential campaign, calling it a "transformative candidacy that would advance progressive politics for the long term"? (Think about how the press would react if a fascist newspaper heaped such praise on McCain.)

That Obama has routinely tried to intimidate his critics into silence? His political organization spearheaded a massive campaign against a Chicago radio show that invited one of his critics to appear – even after being asked (and refusing) to send a representative to balance the program, hosted by a non-partisan University of Chicago psychology professor. Worse, his campaign sought to chill free speech by establishing a “truth squad” of Missouri prosecutors and sheriffs, which threatened a “vigorous response” to any ad presenting information about Obama that they deemed to be “inaccurate.” And there are other examples.

That even as America struggles to “bail out” our own struggling economy, Obama backs a global bailout? His Global Poverty Initiative would assess $2500 per taxpayer, according to Investor’s Business Daily, to fund a global war on poverty administered by the UN and its agencies.

That despite touting his academic credentials as a rationale for initiating a campaign for president just two years after leaving the Illinois state legislature, Obama refuses to release either his college or his law school transcripts – just as he sought to keep records of his working relationship with former terrorist Bill Ayers on The Annenberg Challenge (a left-wing educational foundation) safely under wraps? What is it that he doesn’t want voters to know?


Repeatedly, we’ve heard the media denounce the “rumors” about Barack Obama that are, supposedly, circulated on the internet exclusively by the bigoted and the ignorant. But Americans sense that there is more to Barack Obama than they’ve been told. Having witnessed the media’s own bias and favoritism, they’ve come to suspect – reasonably – that even if any of the rumors were true, the press might choose to conceal them until the election is safely over. What’s more, they wonder: What else is the press not telling us?

Certainly, it would be terribly wrong for John McCain to traffic in rumors. But he doesn’t need to. The truth is more than enough. There are facts that the American people deserve to know – and which the press isn’t telling them. By filling in the gaps that the media has left unmentioned, John McCain isn’t just doing himself a service. He’s doing journalists’ job for them, and allowing Americans to make an informed decision when they head to the polls next month.
-30-

So Biden wants to take you to Katie's Restaurant?

You've got to love this: Remember when Joe Biden talked about how "in touch" he is with Middle Class America in the VP debates? And how he could take you for a walk down Union Street in Wilmington, and visit Katie's Restaurant?

Read what was reported in today's Washington Post, passed on to Reading Between the Lines via FactCheck.org.

Pass this link on to your friends to read this example of what the Democrats consider VP material . . . and speaking of being qualified to be VP, what about Biden's story about Roosevelt dealing with the Stock Market Crash of 1929, addressing the nation by . . . going on TV . . . in 1929? While Hoover was still president?

Hey Joe, don't ya know Roosevelt was elected in 1932?

And these yahoos have the audacity to say Biden's ready for the White House?

http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/

Kenneth
++++++++++





In today’s Washington Post, Michael Dobbs, a.k.a. The Fact Checker, writes about a few more stumbles from the debate, including a couple items that we didn’t have in our story on Friday.

Dobbs, a former diplomatic reporter, says Sen. Joe Biden was wrong when he said the U.S. and France “kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon.” He was correct in saying that there was talk of sending NATO forces to the country in 2006.

Dobbs also cites Biden’s invitation to voters to “go down Union Street with me in Wilmington [Delaware] or go to ‘Katie’s Restaurant.’ ” That restaurant closed in the 1980s and has been replaced by a chain. The Wilmington News Journal wrote about the error, as well.
-30-

FactCheck.org: "FactChecking Obama"

A little something extra to document America's favorite pathological liar, Barack Obama, from FactCheck.org.

Pass this link around to your friends so they can see it for themselves:

http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/10/factchecking-obama-he-stuck-to-facts.html


Kenneth
+++++++++



FactChecking Obama: He stuck to the facts, except when he stretched them.

Summary

We checked the accuracy of Obama's speech accepting the Democratic nomination, and noted the following:

Obama said he could “pay for every dime” of his spending and tax cut proposals “by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens.” That’s wrong – his proposed tax increases on upper-income individuals are key components of paying for his program, as well. And his plan would leave the U.S. facing big budget deficits, according to independent experts.

He twisted McCain’s words about Afghanistan, saying, “When John McCain said we could just 'muddle through' in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources.” Actually, McCain said in 2003 we “may” muddle through, and he recently also called for more troops there.

He said McCain would fail to lower taxes for 100 million Americans while his own plan would cut taxes for 95 percent of “working” families. But an independent analysis puts the number who would see no benefit from McCain’s plan at 66 million and finds that Obama’s plan would benefit 81 percent of all households when retirees and those without children are figured in.

Obama asked why McCain would "define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year"? Actually, McCain meant that comment as a joke, getting a laugh and following up by saying, "But seriously ..."

Obama noted that McCain’s health care plan would "tax people’s benefits" but didn’t say that it also would provide up to a $5,000 tax credit for families.

He said McCain, far from being a maverick who’s "broken with his party," has voted to support Bush policies 90 percent of the time. True enough, but by the same measure Obama has voted with fellow Democrats in the Senate 97 percent of the time.

Obama said "average family income" went down $2,000 under Bush, which isn't correct. An aide said he was really talking only about "working" families and not retired couples. And – math teachers, please note – he meant median (or midpoint) and not really the mean or average. Median family income actually has inched up slightly under Bush.
-30-

American Jewish Students to Protest Olmert Plan

Note to readers: I didn't get this up in time for the protest dates, but I am posting this anyway so you will be aware of the issue, and know who to contact to help in the future.

As I work out my interaction with Israpundit, I expect to become timely.

Kenneth

+++++++++++++

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127545

by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) A group of North American Jewish students are planning a coast-to-coast demonstration to protest the Olmert plan and the silence of American Jewish leaders, specifically over the looming threat of a second Disengagement as well as the possibility that Israel may hand sovereignty over the Temple Mount to the Palestinian Authority.

Jewish students from the sixth grade through high school were urged in an e-mail flyer sent out Tuesday to "Stand Up to Prevent…" with a graphic photo of a lone Jewish pioneer attempting to ward off an onslaught of Yassam special police forces.

According to organizer Yosef Rabin, director of the United Jewish Student Council (UJSC) the protest is set for Thursday September 18 and is scheduled to take place 10 minutes before the first class, thus comprising the first lesson of the day.

The group also sent format suggestions for the student protestors, including a list of psalms for the protestors to say (chapters 121, 130, 142), shofar blowing, singing and dancing.

The attachment also includes the order of the special prayers for the nation and land of Israel compiled by former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.

The demonstration
is expected to last approximately the length of one class period, or 45 minutes.

"We are striking in response to the silence of the Jewish leadership on the planned expulsion of 300,000 Jews from Judea and Samaria, division of Jerusalem and the abandonment of the holy Temple Mount," Rabin said in an internet chat interview with Israel National News.

"Jewish students across North America are saying No! No expelling Jews. No dividing land. No abandoning Har HaBayit (Hebrew for Temple Mount)," he said.

Blessings and Warnings from Israeli Sanhedrin
According to Rabin, Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander, a leading rabbinical judge in the nascent Sanhedrin that formed in Jerusalem several years ago and continues to struggle for mainstream recognition, has given his blessing to the project.

"Rabbi Hollander wrote, 'Shalom friends, Your plans are excellent, may HaShem bless you – and Am Yisrael – with your success…

'Considering the behavior of the majority of the people of Israel in the Land of Israel, we have no Zchuss to remain in the Land. The reasoning of Rabbi Kook [that the non-observant are doing the great mitzvah of building Eretz Israel] no longer applies: in his time they were building with the purpose of creating a Jewish State. Today the "elite" are building the for purpose of lining their pockets, and others with the purpose of destroying the Jewish identity of the State of the Jews. Jews who do not want to stand up and support a political fight for our Jewish Birthright in the complete Holy Land of Israel right now should begin to work on the most likely result of their attitude: Millions of Jews looking for refuge.

'….If Israel is not defended properly, there will surely be a catastrophe. The present "elite" are not capable of creating a deterrent which would stop the Iranians to try to A-bomb Israel. A reasonable estimate is that the people comprising the political leadership in Israel today will not use Israel's capabilities even in retaliation….

'…People – Jews – who do not want to stand up and support a political fight for our Jewish Birthright in the complete Holy Land of Israel right now should begin to work on the most likely result of their attitude: Millions of Jews looking for refuge.

'First of all – political activity to ensure a place for the survivors. Secondly – funds for their physical deployment outside the Middle East, building homes, healthcare – physical and mental healthcare, retraining facilities for adults, schooling for children – all these necessities should begin to be taken care of NOW by those who do not support a fight NOW.

'In the hopefull case when these funds are not needed, that should be used to ensure schooling in a Jewish Day School for all Jewish children. This would be the best way to prevent marrying non-Jews.

Fear Stalks the Students – 'This is Not the 60's'
Although the idea of a coast-to-coast strike itself is popular, and many students expressed interest, Rabin also noted that "many of them are very scared."

Many of the students, he said, are afraid of suspension or even being expelled from their schools, and have sent letters saying they "really want to do this but are a little nervous." Rabin added that almost every letter ended with the writer promising to try and organize something anyway, despite the fear.

"You have to remember that children in America have not known activism, unlike Israeli children, especially those living in Yesha [Gaza, Judea and Samaria –ed.]," he said. "They have never been exposed to this type of activism so the first time it is a daunting task."

In a twist completely opposite from that of the 60's, the group is counting on the older generation to get involved. "We are going to be working hard to bring parents and grandparents to strike with the students," he said, noting that this was the generation of the activism and protests of the 1960's and 1970's. "This will soften the attitude of the schools toward the kids and help calm the fears of the students.

"This is not the 60s or 70s. Boy, have times changed," he commented ruefully.

One school director wanted to commit his entire student body to the cause, he noted – but the Rosh Yeshiva nixed the plan, saying, "If the Torah U'Mesorah were to come out with the recommendation that all of these Jewish school children should take certain action, then we would certainly be involved." Without the endorsement of the national umbrella, however, the Rosh Yeshiva was unwilling to take a stand on his own.

Nationalists Form Pact to Fight Expulsion II in Israel
Residents of Judea and Samaria have formed the Samaria Pact to fight Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Vice Prime Minister Chaim Ramon's attempt to offer people money to leave their houses.

Leaders of the movement met on Monday to form a new agreement against what they called the "continuation of disgrace that took place in Gush Katif, which only brought more tragedy upon us."

Gush Emunim co-founder Benny Katzover said the group is preparing to fight against evacuations and will not wait until the last minute to fight expulsions. Yossi Dagan of Homesh First explained, "We are going from defense to offense. We will continue to build and expand."

-30-

You go girl: Sarah-cuda attacks!

Sarah-cuda, the just launched endearing name for Gov. Sarah Palin, is sinking those pearly whites into Barack Obama! Watch as she uses the New York Times to shred Barack.

Quoting the AP copy on the video, "At a campaign stop in Carson, Calif., Governor Sarah Palin lashed out at Senator Barack Obama's ties to controversial figure Bill Ayers, one of the founders of the group the Weather Underground."





-30-

Sarah Palin and our Top 10 campaign articles

Now that we know Sarah Palin is more than a match for Joe Biden, let's take a look at Sen. Biden's deviance from the truth.

On this Palin item for a moment, allow me to speculate that it is impossible to come away from listening to the shrill, hysterical hate thrown at her by the Loony Tunes Left and not ask what underlying psychological dysfunctions within them stir their madness.

My personal interpretation is that the nerve being struck is the deadly fear that Sarah Palin will be America's first female president. To understand the depth of what I mean by that, follow this next thought closely:

It is not just the idea of her being the first female president per se, but rather the realization that it means Hillary Clinton will not - that is their real, terrifying nightmare.

After all the work, after all the ethical contradictions, after all the schmoozing, after all the scratching of her supporters' itchy ears, it will all be for naught. Hillary Clinton lies awake at night, as do her so-called "feminist" hordes, and they collectively face the reality that their world is nothing but a lie.

"Hills" was jilted for a man, and not just any man. No, she was jilted for a man who has never done anything for women in America - other than support the misogyny that black women, burdened with the matriarchal culture that is black America's shame, contend with in their real world of holding together the family without the man who fathered it.

Tell us, Sen. Obama, in your 20 years at the Rev. Dr. Wright's church of racist hate, when did you stand up and tell women that they must take back their dignity, and take back their self-respect, from a hip-hop culture of pimps, murderers, dopers, and violent men targeting women for their wrath?

This does not escape Hills' female supporters. They know in their hearts that Barack Obama has done anything he needed to do to get in with the hip-hop culture's richest stars, and in doing so, make legitimate as a role model for youth their female focused death-culture.

They grasp the idea that Sarah Palin is now America's favorite daughter, a role model of success beyond their own wildest dreams while Hills is castigated to the darkness of political exile. This brings out all their deepest hate, and because their self-inflicted political correctness dams the rivers of their mind and doesn't allow it to flow at the real cause of their anger - Barack Obama - they substitute Sarah Palin for their irrational attacks.

That, my friends, is the real reason Sarah Palin is the target of their relentless hate. It is because they aren't allowed to target the real reason - Barack Obama, the man who stole their dream and jilted them for his own ego.

It is impossible not to recognize that America is in love with Sarah Palin. It is not a mere circumstance of happenstance that she drew the largest TV audience ever in the history of the VP debates, and in fact, the largest even including the presidential debates.

(NOTE: A.C. Nielsen has to call the Reagan debate the largest because it rounded all audience estimates at that time, and does not do so now. But empirical evidence recalculating the audience numbers prove conclusively that if they had not rounded the figure up, then Sarah Palin is the biggest audience draw ever in the history of televised debates. That folks, is an American love affair, and it scares the Clintons to death.)

To understand what is at stake in this election, here are "16 reasons why Sarah Palin could not be an Obama Democrat:"

1) She's intelligent.

2) She lives in a functional family.

3) She knows there is a God, and she isn't He.

4) She's well-adjusted.

5) She doesn't lie as a matter of course.

6) She doesn't feel a need to down shots at a "workin' man's" bar to prove she's "one of the boys."

7) She knows when life begins.

8) She knows what happens when life ends.

9) She dresses with dignity.

10) She's not in competition with men to prove she is an equal to any of them.

11) She doesn't use cursing as a substitute for articulation.

12) She doesn't have a need to wear pants as a statement of gender equality.

13) She is happy with life.

14) She recognizes her humanity - and her humility.

15) She doesn't care what Hollywood thinks.

16) She doesn't care what the Loony Tunes Left thinks.

Now, on to the 14 lies of Joe Biden, told during the history-making VP debate.

I got this email this afternoon, here it is to link and send to others. To make it easy, just copy and paste this to your email, or blog:

"Reading Between the Lines" by Kenneth E. Lamb

http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/

The article is entitled, "16 reasons Sarah Palin can't be an Obama Democrat, 14 lies Sen. Biden told America, and our TOP 10 articles about the campaign!"

http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/10/16-reasons-sarah-palin-cant-be-obama.html

Now, on to getting out the truth. Here is the unedited email:

Please see our campaign’s response to Joe Biden's debate performance tonight. During the debate, Joe Biden lied more than a dozen times by our count:

"Joe Biden graduated from his trademark verbal gaffe to outright lie in tonight’s debate. Each time Senator Biden was on his heels, he looked directly into the camera and lied -- more than a dozen times by our count. He lied about John McCain's record, his own record, and Barack Obama's dangerous policies.

Governor Palin showed the American people tonight why a McCain-Palin Administration will bring real reform, leadership, and straight talk to Washington.” --Tucker Bounds, spokesman McCain-Palin 2008

JOE BIDEN'S 14 LIES TONIGHT

1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way” as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.

2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.

3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, “Drill we must.” But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping” the Outer Continental Shelf.”

4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.

5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.

6. ALTERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.

7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people's health insurance coverage -- they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false

8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska -- she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it's not a windfall profits tax.

9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.

10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation -- he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.

11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraq”, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.

12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.

13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.”

14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won't pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.
+++++++

There you have it: 16 reasons why Sarah Palin could never be an Obama Democrat, and 14 lies Sen. Biden told America in the VP debate.

Now, do your Truth Squad duty, and get this out to everyone you know. The quickest, and easiest way is to send them either of the links above. Not only will they see this post, but they will be able to save the blog's main address ( http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/ ) in their Favorites or Bookmarks and get the latest, most accurate information about the campaign.

Here is the list of our current Top 10 articles about the race, and as you can see for yourself, Sarah Palin is the center of much interest. Just click on the title and it will take you to the article. Think about including them with the information you forward from here to your friends, campaign email lists, and blogs.

Or make it easy on your friends, and just send them this article's hyperlink - The article is entitled, "16 reasons Sarah Palin can't be an Obama Democrat, 14 lies Sen. Biden told America, and our TOP 10 articles about the campaign!"

http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/10/16-reasons-sarah-palin-cant-be-obama.html

Think Link!:

1) Who let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac go bust?

2) From the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: "The speech Palin never gave: Ahmadinejad dreams of Final Solution"

3) Sandra Bernhard: Palin Would Be Gang-Raped By Blacks in Manhattan

4) From the San Francisco Chronicle: "Palin Derangement Syndrome: Obama's Worst Enemy?"

5) Barack Obama's "crass" comments are infecting the entire party

6) Barack Obama's Palin problem

7) Sarah Palin from someone who knows her

8) Drudge Report posts FactCheck.org report on the slime thrown by loony tunes leftists at Sarah Palin

9) Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal scores on Barack Obama: "Mr. Obama's answers here seemed to me strange and disturbing."

10) Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post: Barack Hussein Obama becomes our political messiah
-30-

Who let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac go bust?

Try this on for size if you want the truth about who was letting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac go down the tube:




-30-

Barack Obama's Brown Shirts: MO prosecutors

It continues to escape me how anyone can miss the Obama Brown Shirt mentality. If this guy gets elected president, I'm going to tell all my journalism colleagues that they brought it on themselves when they get the same treatment Pensacola News Journal columnist Reginald T. Dogan got when he visited an Obama office and found out that any dissent from the "party line" made him, in his own words, "persona non grata."

And I need to note, the Obama Brown Shirt mentality is color-blind; Mr. Dogan is black.

Read it for yourself in his column entitled, "Obama campaign should not avoid elephant in the room."

Here's part of his column - it gets even better the further you read, so be sure to hyperlink to the entire column linked above:

"I'm persona non grata at the Barack Obama headquarters in Pensacola.

"I ruffled some feathers Monday after I popped in at the campaign office on DeVilliers Street. I was accused of asking "uncomfortable questions" by the campaign's communications director in the district office in Tallahassee.

"I wanted to talk about a Newsweek magazine article that referred to a national poll showing that white Democrats may not be admitting that they won't vote for a black candidate because they fear appearing racist.

"The AP-Yahoo poll suggested that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race easily could be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004.

"But before I could ask my first question, an Obama field manager told me I needed approval from the Tallahassee office to talk to anyone. Then, another field manager told me I could talk to volunteers but not paid staff.

"I talked with two volunteers, who seemed eager to answer my questions, before the first field manager called her boss in Tallahassee.

"My interviews were interrupted when the manager handed me a telephone with Kevin Cates, the communications director, on the line telling me that I needed permission from him before talking to staff or volunteers.

"Later, I learned he also called the News Journal with the same message.

"I've got to tell you I find it disconcerting and heavy-handed that a campaign that prides itself on openness, honesty and fair treatment would hamper free speech and open dialogue."

Well, it gets even better. The Obama Brown Shirt mentality now includes signing up prosecutors who support his campaign to make public statements that they will file charges against anyone they consider to be "lying" about Barack.

And what constitutes some of the lies?

Well, saying his tax plan will result in problems for the middle class. Or that his promises about social welfare can't be accomplished. Or anything else these prosecutors consider to be "a lie."

And that could be anything at all.

I used to think of Barack Obama as just a pathological liar who was entirely too shallow to be president.

But now I see that what we are really talking about is the far-left wing of politics imposing their own brand of authoritarian thought policing on the nation. And their ability to sign up county and city prosecutors in MO to actually carry out these prosecutions tells me that Barack Obama is the most serious threat to constitutional rights since - well, since the GOP caved in to the Paulson crisis and took judicial review of the treasury secretary's actions out of the bailout bill hammered out this weekend.

It's true - we really can loose our freedoms. And the juxtaposition of these two events shows it is coming from both the right, and the left, wing of the political spectrum.

OK, here is the story on Barack Obama and the ends his authoritarian Brown Shirts will go to to stop anyone from criticizing "The One."

Last thought: You remember the talk about how there are 18 letters in Obama's full name, which is 3 sixes . . . nah, it couldn't be. That's just crazy religious nut talk . . . right?

Here's the article from WorldNetDaily:


Backlash to Obama officials squelching political speech

Law enforcement threats, intimidation likened to 'police-state tactics,' by Missouri governor


Posted: September 27, 20087:25 pm Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily - Used with permission


Following legal threats by Missouri state law-enforcement officials supporting Barack Obama against presidential campaign ads that appeared to be false or misleading, Gov. Matt Blunt today likened the intimidation to "police state tactics."

"St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign," said Blunt in a statement released today. "What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment."

The statement came after the law enforcement officials pledged to form a "truth squad" to halt ads that, among other things, claimed Obama was not a Christian or that he was not planning to cut taxes on Americans other than the wealthy.

"If they're not going to tell the truth, somebody's got to step up and say, 'That's not the truth. This is the truth,'" McCullogh told KMOV-TV in St. Louis.

The effort appeared to be part of a move by the Obama campaign to block advertisements to which it objects. The campaign also sent "threatening" letters to several news agencies in Pennsylvania and Ohio demanding they stop airing ads exposing Obama's gun stance, according to the National Rifle Association.

"This abuse of the law for intimidation insults the most sacred principles and ideals of Jefferson," said Blunt.

"I can think of nothing more offensive to Jefferson's thinking than using the power of the state to deprive Americans of their civil rights. The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election."

Blunt concluded: "Barack Obama needs to grow up. Leftist blogs and others in the press constantly say false things about me and my family. Usually, we ignore false and scurrilous accusations because the purveyors have no credibility. When necessary, we refute them.

Enlisting Missouri law enforcement to intimidate people and kill free debate is reminiscent of the Sedition Acts – not a free society."

The NRA's Political Victory Fund also condemned the effort as censorship.

"Barack Obama and his campaign are terrified of the truth," said Chris W. Cox, chairman of organization.

"Sen. Obama's statements and support for restricting access to firearms, raising taxes on guns and ammunition and voting against the use of firearms for self-defense in the home are a matter of public record. NRA-PVF will make sure that everyone knows of Obama's abysmal record on guns and hunting."

The Obama campaign declined to respond to a WND request for comment.

The NRA said Obama sent "cease and desist letters" to news outlets in the two states, "denouncing the ads and demanding their removal from the airwaves."

"Barack Obama would be the most anti-gun president in our nation's history. That's the truth," said Cox. "NRA-PVF has the facts on our side. No amount of running from or lying about his record and then intimidating news outlets in the hope of deceiving American gun owners and hunters is going to work. Those strong arm tactics may work in Chicago, but not in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and not as long as NRA-PVF has anything to say about it."

The warnings were from Obama lawyer Robert Bauer, who told station managers that in order to stay in the Federal Communication commission's good graces, they should not air the ads.

Josh Marquis, an Oregon prosecutor who serves as a spokesman for the NDAA, said the comments from Missouri don't sound like the McCulloch he knows.

"I'm really surprised. I know Bob," Marquis told WND.

The KMOV report said the Obama campaign asked members of Missouri's law enforcement to target anyone who "lies" or issues misleading television ads. Formation of the Obama "Truth Squad" was the result, the report said.

McCulloch declined to return a call from WND seeking comment.

The KMOV report said the campaign was being conducted by McCulloch and another prosecutor, Jennifer Joyce, along with a number of sheriffs throughout the state.

"They will be reminding voters that Barack Obama is a Christian who wants to cut taxes for anyone who makes less than $250,000 a year. They also say they plan to respond immediately to any ads and statements that violate Missouri's ethics laws," the report said.

"We want to keep this campaign focused on issues," Joyce told the station. "We don't want people to get distracted. Missourians don't want to be distracted by the divisive character attacks."

The campaign was assembled to "set the record straight," they said.

Officials with the Missouri Sheriff's Association declined to talk about any sheriffs who might be involved in the campaign.

At the blog Gateway Pundit, the reaction was immediate.

"St. Louis and Missouri Democrat sheriffs and top prosecutors are planning to go after anyone who makes false statements against Obama during his campaign. This is so one-sided I can't even [begin] to describe how wrong this agenda is," writes blogger Jim Hoft.

Hoft said Joyce and McCulloch "are threatening to bring libel charges against those who speak out falsely against Barack Obama."

Missouri blogger Doctor Bulldog commented: "Don't think they will stop with just the local radio and television stations. Oh, no. We bloggers are NEXT on the chopping block! It doesn't matter if it is the truth. It only matters if Obama deems it a lie (i.e. – something that can cause damage to his bid to be president). Basically, NO ONE is free to criticize Obama here in Missouri!!!"

In the St. Louis Examiner, a commentary said, "Look, politicians are all about lies. It may be annoying (I find it entertaining), but that's for their opponents and good-government groups to counter – not law enforcement. ... Even if the officeholders joining the 'truth squad' are nominally stepping out of their official roles in order to put on their (political) party hats and play politics, it's inappropriate. They wield too much power to use it to wag their fingers at people who say un-nice things about political hopefuls. Prosecutors and sheriffs are, after all, normally thought of as people with the clout to put their targets behind bars."

Marquis told WND politicians keep their right to have a political opinion and express it, but the DA's organization strives hard not to be partisan.
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London Telegraph: Default by US government?

A default by the US government is no longer unthinkable

So, here we are – the start of a new world order. After the tumultuous events of the last fortnight, the global economic landscape will never look the same again.

By Liam Halligan
Copyright 2008 The London Telgraph - Used with permission


Power has tangibly shifted – away from the United States and the Western world generally, and towards the fast-growing giants of the East. That’s been happening for some years now.

But September 2008 marks the moment when the scale of our excesses, the extent of our debts and the moral bankruptcy of our financial regulatory system finally began to be truly exposed.

I say began to be exposed. Back in March, Standard and Poor’s, the US ratings agency, estimated some $285bn (£156bn) of mortgage-backed securities would eventually be written-off by the global banking sector. On Friday, almost unnoticed amid the panic, that forecast was upped to $378bn.

In reality, total credit losses will be much higher — at least $750bn in my view. But the extent of the 33 per cent one-off increase in S&P’s estimate speaks volumes. It reflects just how little anyone truly knows about either the ultimate size of the sub-prime losses or who ultimately holds the related securities. But with one in ten US mortgages now “delinquent” or “in foreclosure”, and house prices still falling, such “toxic waste” is burning holes in balance sheets wherever it sits. That’s why this crisis is far from over.

It’s difficult to overstate the enormity of what happened last week.

By any standard, the collapse of Lehman Brothers was a dramatic — and alarming event. One of the biggest names on Wall Street, the 158-year old bank was consumed by the scale of its losses and crippled by executive feuds. Deemed by the US Federal Reserve to be “sufficiently unconnected” to the rest of the global financial system, Lehman was allowed to fold.

In contrast, American International Group, the world’s largest insurer, was judged “too interconnected” to collapse. So the Fed effectively “nationalised” AIG – the biggest rescue of a private firm in human history.

And it’s only a few weeks, of course, since the even more expensive bail-out of quasi-government lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – which, between them, account for a mind-boggling $5,300bn of mortgages, around half of America’s home loans.

On top of all that, US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson sent an $800bn financial rescue plan to Congress. He wants to create a second “Resolution Trust Corporation” – or government-owned asset management company – to take on illiquid mortgage-related debts. The original RTC was established to rescue the US Savings and Loans Associations that went bust in the 1980s.

And by the way, the Fed has also just offered another $125bn of liquidity to banks outside the US that are desperate for dollars and can’t access America’s frozen credit markets – a move co-ordinated with central banks in Japan, the Eurozone, Switzerland, Canada and here in the UK.

The combination of these measures – each of them of enormous significance in its own right – sent stock markets shooting-up on Friday. America’s S&P 500 rose 4.03 per cent and London’s FTSE 100 soared 8.84 per cent, its largest one-day rise ever.

But, despite the end-of-week euphoria and trader-talk that “the only way is up”, despite America’s undoubted resolve and Paulson’s determination to do “whatever it takes”, the situation remains very fragile.

Nothing better reflects the amount of fear among banks in America – banks everywhere – than the sky-high rates they’re continuing to charge when lending to each other. Ordinarily, inter-bank (or Libor) interest rates are only slightly above base rates.

But with so much uncertainty remaining about the scale and occurrence of “sub-prime” – and with desperate bank executives still so reluctant to “fess-up” their losses – the US Libor rate on money to be paid back in three months is now a staggering 1.5 per cent above base. In recent weeks, Libor rates have shot up in other countries too.

Paulson’s latest liquidity injection has lowered over-night Libor rates for now. But, despite the torrent of cash the US has directed at the credit markets, longer-term inter-bank rates have stayed stubbornly high, and some have gone up further. In other words, even the banks themselves don’t think the rescue plan will work. Expect more – and bigger – liquidity operations in weeks to come.

The trouble is, though, as the bill for these bail-outs keeps rising, so does the possibility that the political consensus will crack and there’ll be an almighty, and debilitating, dust-up. Paulson’s RTC plan, in theory, could restore confidence. By taking sub-prime loans off banks’ books, it could de-ice the inter-bank market, restoring credit lines to households and firms and preventing the “credit crunch” from shifting wholesale, in that fabled phrase, “from Wall Street to Main Street”.

But, in the run-up to the US election in November, Democrats in Congress – and even some Republicans – may decide they’re simply not having it. How much more can the US taxpayer take? It sounds insane, but the liabilities being taken on by the Fed and the US Treasury are now so enormous that the government itself could default. No?

Check out the chart showing the recent spikes in the US 10-year credit default swap. In other words, the market is now pricing-in the genuine possibility that the US will struggle to pay-back some of its long-term T-bills.

That possibility is still deemed to be quite low. But the ultimate financial question – until recently, unthinkable – is now being asked. Yes siree, the mighty US government could default.

That’s how much the world has changed.
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